Bloodlines
by alyzarin
Summary: It seemed they were out of options. Rick and his people are at the mercy of a soulless group who turned their backs on God a long time ago. Not too far away, Beth is kept in the care of a band of survivors who offer nothing but promises of a better way to live, while keeping a secret they don't intend on sharing until the bitter end is reached. Season 5 never happened.


Hello my beautiful muffin tops. As you read, this will be a complete rehashing of Season 5 of TWD because ehhhh quite frankly I needed to do this to set my own mind at ease. And even if you read this and do not enjoy a single sentence fragment, at least you can sleep soundly at night knowing I am not making a lonely cent off of it, unlike others. Some things will be the same. Most of it will not. So here we go. Enjoy?

_"Whoever sheds human blood,_

_ by humans shall their blood be shed;_

_ for in the image of God_

_ has God made mankind."_

_ Genesis 9:6_

**Before. **

Our Mother Mary church stood tall in the clearing to which a herd of cars were flocking to amid the slight chaos. It was the kind of spectacular day one could only pray to have on an event as this; the thinnest of clouds spread across the sky like God himself had painted with a swift brushstroke on a spectacular blue canvas.

Gareth stood on the other side of the open door, an easy smile to greet each parishioner. Religious holidays. They were an opportunity to recruit, to reach out and on a packed day like today, it was do or die.

"Welcome," he said reaching out to grab a newcomer's hand, who looked a bit startled but pleased as he did so. "Hey, thanks for coming."

He clapped a hand on the shoulder of a familiar face as they passed, and called out to a gaggle of kids he spotted who were laughing nervously as they shuffled in with their parents. "Hey, Adam. Jacob. Coming back to youth group soon I hope."

"Hey Gareth," the taller kid called Jacob replied, a shine of admiration laced in his voice. "Yeah I think so. Are you still in charge?"

He laughed easily. "In a manner of speaking."

The crowd began to thin as it neared closer to the scheduled service time. Nearly every seat in every pew filled, Gareth surveyed the congregation quietly, studying those he knew but much more importantly those he didn't. In the past year alone he had managed to persuade quite a few into joining the church. Being nondenominational helped, he had found. A place for everyone no matter who they were. There was always room.

Gareth's gaze fell upon a man hunched over in the very far corner, seated as far away as he could possibly be from the alter without being in the grass outside. Gareth had seen him before, though he only sporadically came to the evening services. He had never known his name. He was a smaller man, but moved quickly as Gareth had seen when it came time for communion. He didn't speak to anyone.

Gareth strode towards him. It was his job to approach those who others deemed unapproachable. It was, he had decided at a fairly young age, what he'd been put on this earth to do.

"Gareth," he said nodding briskly to the man. There was less warmth in his voice as there had been at the door for he had surmised this man was not one for small chat. It was best to get to the point. "I've seen you before. It's good to see you here today."

The man's eyes darted up at him and he seemed nervous. "Thank you," he replied.

"You're usually at evening services I think," Gareth mentioned as he took a seat next to him casually.

The man shifted in his seat. "The sermons are more…suited to my taste."

A smile crossed Gareth's face as he spread his hands out in a familiar gesture. "Hey. Everyone has a place, right?"

A bell sounded throughout the small chapel as the conversations that had been taking place all hushed at once. Gareth slowly stood and walked quickly over to his usual seat, to the right side of the alter and where his mother waited, her eyes wrinkled at the corners and hair bound back in a long braid down her back. She reached out to take hold of his arm but said nothing as the the succession started down the aisle, finally ending with a tall handsome black man in a pastor's Easter garments. He had a wide grin that reached throughout every pew as he passed.

Gareth had known Father Gabriel since he was twelve years old, the same year they had joined the church. The same year his father had died. He had been a mentor to the young man throughout his formative years and had continued to do so until he had appointed him as the youth minister for their services. As he passed Gareth's row, the final row before he reached the alter, he shot him a wink and turned to face his congregation.

"Blessed be the lord," he called out in his booming voice.

"And also with you," the chorus of people replied, all eyes forward to the man who stretched his arms as if to embrace everyone, not unlike the man made of marble hoisted above them all where he lay upon his cross.

* * *

><p>"GO!"<p>

A rush of sound hurried footsteps at a near run sounded throughout the boxcar as the tiny mass of figures threw themselves against the wall they'd been sprinting towards. The boxcar lurched but made no further movement, as the group of people backed away once more looking as dejected as they felt.

"There's gotta be another way," Glenn said, wincing as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Yeah you'll let us know when you think of it," Daryl murmured as he backtracked and inspected the wall from every angle. The few that hadn't lunged were behind them, working on fashioning whatever they had on them into as formidable a weapon as they could manage. Sweat was on their brow but a newfound strength had found its way into each and every one of their eyes. They were in a bad situation, hell they were hard pressed to be in a worse one. But they were together this time.

All except one.

"And Beth?" Maggie had asked only hours earlier, her gaze meeting the silhouettes of Rick, Daryl, Carl, and Michonne, but none other. No tiny figure or glint of blonde hair perhaps hidden behind the height that was Rick or the mass that was Daryl. It had been a blow.

Rick looked over to where Daryl stood in the darkness. He couldn't make out his expression, but had thought he saw his shoulders sink at the question.

"She's out there," he'd said in his gruff voice. "She was with me. We got cornered and I told her to take off…"

He recounted how she had done exactly that only it seemed someone else had caught up with her before Daryl had the chance. How he'd seen the glimpse of a white cross on the back of a black car. How he'd run after it as fast as he could to catch up until he'd collapsed. And how it had been daylight when that had finally happened, though he hadn't included that last part.

"But she's alive?" Maggie had questioned and Daryl could see there was a numbness to her eyes as she awaited his answer.

"She's alive," he had replied quickly. There was no other option. She was tough, she'd proved that to him awhile ago. But more than that, he wouldn't allow himself to consider another possibility. They just had to get out of this hellhole first.

Glenn had explained to the remainder of their party how Abraham had detailed his main objective to the head Termites and that they had been merely escorting the three of them before taking off to D.C. Things had transpired fairly quickly after that revelation.

"What exactly are they?" Michonne spoke up in her dark timbre.

"I think it's safe to say we're in some pretty serious trouble," the girl named Tara said, speaking for the first time, but Rick's mind was back to their arrival. The inviting signs. The welcome committee. The personal items. And the…barbecue.

"They're scavengers," he'd said as every face turned to look at him. "They…harvest people. They had your watch," he said nodding to Glenn. "Among some other things. And they have a pretty hefty amount to work with. We passed a whole lot of boxcars before being cornered into this one. We're not alone."

"Could Beth be-" Maggie started to ask but Rick shook his head.

"They don't need cars, " he said eyeing Daryl, who had shifted, from his peripheral. "The signs work."

"Lucky for us," Glenn said darkly, but his words rang true.

They hadn't had many options. The most obvious was to escape from their confinement and they had decided the best they could do at the moment was to use their own weight to tip the whole thing over. Despite the best efforts from all of them, it had done little but to elicit a few groans from the bolts holding it together and cause a tremor beneath their feet. It was only a matter of time before whatever fate that had come to those in the boxcar before them, was theirs too.

* * *

><p>It was a dim room but enough sunlight filtered through the filthy window to illuminate the map Gareth was pouring over. He tapped the blue pushpin he held anxiously onto the table he'd been hunched over for some hours now. "Where are you," he whispered under his breath just as he heard footsteps make their way to where he stood.<p>

"Gareth?" he heard one of his watch say from behind. "The new arrivals should be about ready."

Gareth didn't glance up from the spot he dug the blue pin into aggressively, let alone bother turning around. "Has it been the allotted time? What do we always say Joshua. That bit of extra strength from resisters: the difference between a bed and a grave for us." He finally pushed the pin into place and dusted his hands off walking over towards the doorway where the kid stood. "Have they separated the men yet?"

The boy hesitated. "Uh.."

Gareth sighed quietly. "Must I do everything myself," he said strolling past the kid and out the door.

"Alex!" he called to a guy who had similar features to his working over what appeared to be carpentry in a corner of the much larger and near empty room.

"What," he said shortly from under his white surgical mask.

"I've got to deal with this arrival situation. But I need you to send out posts for all the new areas I've marked in blue. I need them watched at all times, especially at night. He's more likely to be out then." From a work station nearby he scooped up a clipboard with various charts and detailed markings on it.

His brother scratched the back of his head, brow furrowed in confusion. Gareth sometimes didn't quite know how the two had come from the same set of parents. Alex was…ah, what was that word an overly kind grade school teacher had used? Simple.

"Do ya really think it's gonna make a difference?" he asked a little cautiously, pulling the surgical mask down to his chin so he could speak freely. "I mean it's been years."

The corner of Gareth's mouth turned upward. Yes, simple was the perfect word for Alex. "He has to run out of supplies eventually, if he hasn't already. You want to take the chance he won't see the signs? Or that he gets _picked up_?"

Alex swallowed visibly and reached up to tug the mask back into place. "I just thought. Maybe he's dead already."

Gareth snorted and turned to look out the large window next to them littered in filth and dust. "He's not dead." From his place he could see the boxcars, still and aligned like huge rectangular boulders. "He's been meant for me since the beginning."

* * *

><p>They had been lined up against the wall, side by side and gearing up for one last attempt at releasing themselves from their prison when it happened. An opening from above them was revealed as the sunlight they hadn't seen in days burned their eyes. Too busy squinting against the glaring light, no one noticed when a device was dropped down right between them all, until it was almost too late.<p>

"MOVE!" Abraham yelled as everyone scrambled back against the walls as far as it would physically allow.

A loud noise. A flashing light. And the doors finally, opened, as a number of people wordlessly filed in, each of their hands holding what seemed to be a syringe as one by one they dragged the men out into the searing heat, where they got a moments glimpse of their surroundings before a small pinch in their neck and everything began to blur together leaving them with no choice but to allow themselves to be led to whatever horrors were beyond those walls.

Rick was just beginning to come out of his drug induced state when they reached their final destination. The room was massive, like a warehouse or factory and it was near empty save for a row of troughs right in the middle where they'd each been lined up. Rick turned looking to see who had been brought with him. Bob to his immediate left, hyperventilating through his gag. It was only then that Rick realized he'd been gagged and bound as well. From the little he could make out, Daryl, Abraham, Eugene, and finally Glenn.

Rick was both relieved and livid to see that Carl was no longer with him.

A door creaked on its hinges and Rick looked up only to see Gareth strolling in looking down at a clipboard and carrying what looked to be a bible atop it. "Ah Rick," he said as the group currently in custody was met before his eyes. "I hoped we wouldn't have anymore trouble with you after our last. I really do want to thank you for your cooperation, it makes things a lot easier for us and for that I'm truly grateful."

Rick tilted his head, cracking his neck soundly as the disturbingly charismatic man began to walk down the row of prisoners and smile at them one by one. "Bob. Archer….Daryl I think it is. Daryl, yes?" He looked to Rick, nodding once as if they were attendees at a business formal and he wanted to get everyone's name right. Gareth's tanned smirk began to come into focus for Rick. The drugs were wearing off. He began to work on his restraints as the world around him felt steadier. He'd be damned if, after all that he'd done, after all he'd fought to get here, it was going to end at the hands of some smartass teenager.

"So that's Daryl….Ben? No, Glenn. That's right. And…ah well, we shouldn't waste time." He batted the air with his hand and simultaneously opened the tiny blue book. "I want to ask you all, before we begin, do any of you practice any religion?"

He was met with a stony silence.

"Any verses you'd like me to read?" Gareth looked them over, watched as shoulders rose and fell with their heavy breathing. "Oh, excuse me," he walked down the line reaching down to pull their gags off so they could speak. Still they said nothing.

"Last chance?" he called out.

Rick began working furiously on his restraints, as more of his senses began to return to him. He thought he saw Daryl swaying slightly from his peripheral and hoped he would begin to pull out of their induced trance soon. He would need him soon, and at his most alert.

With a nod to someone behind them, Gareth backed up a bit as Rick heard footsteps behind them from men who he hadn't noticed to be there. Had they seen what he'd been doing? _Fuck. _

"I do want to apologize. You put up a hell of a fight." Gareth said absentmindedly, marking something down on his clipboard. "I just hope you know," he looked up meeting Rick's eyes as a slightly sadistic smile lit across his face, "none of this was ever personal."

From the corner of his eye, Rick saw a large man move over to Glenn, raising what appeared to be a baseball bat back behind him, a batter ready to swing. Gareth met eye contact with him as if waiting to signal and Rick felt his insides turn to lead. Glenn, the first one he'd met and the first one to have found him. He wasn't going to end here, in this sick place with Gareth's smarmy smile still hovering over him.

Rick made to move when a voice spoke up next to him. "Wait!" It was Bob.

Gareth's head jerked over to where he knelt, head hanging low over the trough and snapped once just as the man with the bat stepped back. "Bob….." he heaved a sigh, strolling over, sounding utterly exasperated, "We can't be wasting time. I've got things to do, people to meet. Questions, comments, concerns? A verse you remembered? I'm all for granting a last request but make it quick."

"You don't want to do this," Bob expelled quickly as if he was afraid he'd run out of time. "We've got a man. He's got a cure. We just need to get to D.C. You've just got to take the chance."

Rick watched closely as Gareth nodded, looking sincere as they came. "Bob I'd like to help but that's just too much faith to put into someone I've only just met. And I can't go gallivanting off after every promise I've heard from arrivals when I've got a place to run. You'll understand." He clapped him on the shoulder.

"It's true," Rick finally spoke up, hearing how hoarse his voice sounded. His other men stilled. "We could change everything. And so could you. Let us go."

At this Gareth said nothing but looked at Rick, a blank expression on his face.

"I think I know what you're doing here. And if you do this to us, it'd be a waste." Rick spoke loudly, as his voice echoed throughout the room to disguise the fact that he'd finally freed himself. He saw a dark head tilt slightly; Daryl had been watching him.

Gareth smiled at Rick who had stilled. "Take him," he said without breaking eye contact.

The men that had been behind them all moved towards Bob, lifting up as he began to struggle and exiting the room as soon as they'd come. Bob's yells could be heard echoing down the hallway growing fainter and fainter until they were almost extinct leaving only a harsh silence in the wake of his absence.

* * *

><p>It was so quiet. It would have been a beautiful day if anyone had been looking. The season hung in the air, the sun peeking through the thick branches of trees that had shaded the ground for the pair and the small child as they marched through the landscape, a determination in their steps.<p>

They said nothing, the crunching of the pine needles under their feet the only sound to draw any attention their way.

"I'll say goodbye at the gate," Carol said understatedly. She had wanted to tell him this before they reached their destination. It would be better for all involved if there were no more surprises concerning her.

Tyreese looked over, a little hurt but mostly surprised as Judith cooed in his arms. "You're leaving? But where are you gonna go?"

Carol barely shrugged, gaze still straight ahead. "It doesn't matter."

"It does," Tyreese said. "You're family. That part hasn't changed."

Carol hadn't been planning on responding but nonetheless a growing noise suddenly silenced any chance of that. Walkers. And by the sound of it, many of them. She made a shhh-ing motion to Tyreese, crouching down and darting through the brush with him close on her trail. He had heard it too.

"We need to hide," she hissed as he cupped Judith's head, calming her down as they fought through the thickening bushes. "Somewhere with walls."

"Terminus is too far?" he asked. The smoke that had been on the horizon days before had disappeared from the sky; they were close.

"Just until they pass," she replied, pushing through furiously until she saw it. She could hardly believe it. Turning to her companion, she pointed ahead. There, but a few feet away was a shed, the door slightly ajar. "Go." The two sprinted forward, quiet and low until they reached the dark interior.

It was slightly cooler inside but not much, and shrouded in shadows where various tools and devices she couldn't quite make out hung from the ceiling. There was an odd smell like iron that filled the air, thick and intrusive. She dropped the backpack from off her shoulders to the ground, the burden released and a welcome change at that. "We'll stay here until they move out. Hopefully it won't take…too long."

She had approached the center of the shed where a long wooden table had been laid out with something splayed across the top of it. As Carol's eyes adjusted to the dark she realized what she was staring at, immediately backing up and knocking something over behind her.

The noise alerted Tyreese. "What's wrong?"

Carol swallowed, fighting the urge to vomit and trying to regain her composure. "How close would you say we are to Terminus," she asked shakily, but she already knew the answer. She had estimated a day's walk and it had been the allotted time.

She heard him turn to face her, the outline of his silhouette visible from the little light streaming through the crack in the door. "Close enough to make a bolt for it as soon as this herd pass. Why?"

The confirmation was enough. Carol pulled out her gun, reloading it as quietly as possible and making a note of something that would surely give her trouble later. "If Sasha is really there…if any of them are there, let's hope it hasn't been for long."

"What's wrong?"

"The stench when we first walked in. Did you notice it?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah." Carol placed her gun back in the holster, adjusting it slightly. "This is not a hunting shed. It's a butcher's."

She heard Tyreese's comprehension in his silence, heard him take a few steps back from the center of the room where the unidentified person lay atop a table, mutilated beyond recognition. "We need to get out of here. We need to get them out of there."

"I'm going to go." It had never been a question but she volunteered all the same. "Stay here with Judith. We'll be back….well, someone will be back here soon. I have our gun, you have the knife. I'll do what I can."

She paused a moment, gathering her bearings as she stepped to the doorway, the herd dissipating in the near distance. "I only have one shot left," she confessed, suddenly feeling the fear creep into her.

From where she stood she could finally make out Tyreese's features, eyes finally adjusting to the dark as soon as she was to step into the light. He nodded. "Make it count."

* * *

><p>Night had fallen and screams were being heard from every corner of the world it seemed. Gareth burst through his front door, two brothers and mother following behind him as they dove into their car. Gareth tossed the shovel he had grabbed from the garage; the closest thing to a weapon he had been able to find in their home.<p>

He started the car, which groaned as he did so. "Come on, come on," he muttered frantically before it finally caught.

"Where are we going?" Alex yelped from the backseat next to David who looked very small next to him.

Next to him, Gareth could hear his mother begin to hyperventilate. He reached over and took hold of her hand just as he backed out of the driveway, nearly colliding with another car that swerved and sped off into the night. "We're going to church."

"I don't really think now is the time-"

Gareth cut Alex off before he could say another word. "Father Gabriel knows a man," he interrupted, speeding as fast as he could and avoiding the mass of people running from out of their houses. "I spoke to him once before. He's the church undertaker." He made a sudden movement, avoiding a fallen trash bin in the road. "He has this…bunker. Shelter. He was preparing for the end times."

From behind him, David finally spoke up. "Are we going to get to go there?"

Gareth glanced at him from the rearview window. His heart was racing so fast he could hardly hear anything else over it's steady beat. "That's the hope." He made a sharp turn. "If nothing else he'll be able to help us. If he really was anticipating the end of the world as we know it…." Beside him he could hear his mother begin to cry. He squeezed her hand, a hard lump wedged in his throat as the car fell into a terrified silence. He would take care of them. That was what had been left in his charge the night his father had passed.

The little church came into view, as he pulled up and was surprised to find the majority of the congregation had the same mindset as he had. Families of all ages and sizes were lined outside the white building but it seemed that no one was going inside. "What's happening?" David asked in a small voice.

"I don't know." He put the car in park, grabbing the shovel as they all climbed out of the vehicle and made their way to the large gathering of people, all of whom were shouting and yelling for someone inside to open up.

"Hey hey hey," Gareth called as he jogged to their sides. "Easy, easy," he called as familiar faces all turned to the youth leader. "Now what's going on?" A mixture of voices piped up all at once.

"He's locked the door. He's locked the door so no one can get in!" cried a terrified woman clutching her child to her chest.

"He's in there. I saw a light go out the minute we all got up here," a large man boomed looking as though he wanted to knock the entire thing down himself.

"He's probably just scared, he probably doesn't realize that it's us and not some group of looters. Father Gabriel?" he called out, stepping to the large door, a black metal cross staring back at him. "I know you're in there. It's alright, it's me, Gareth. The rest of the church is out here, no one else." His ear pressed to the cool wood, certain he heard movement from within. "Father? Father Gabriel?" His knocks became a bit more forced, a bit more hurried.

"He won't open for us," the large man called out, beginning to sound hysterical.

"Calm down Todd," Gareth said, a tremor now beginning to taint his even voice.

"No! He's locked us all out without a word to spare." He shoved Gareth out of the way, pressing all his weight against the door, willing it to open by sheer force. "Let us in! For God's sake let us in!"

Gareth fell back against the iron gate, cutting his arm, as the restless group now became absolutely frantic. Mary had found her way to his side, David clutched in her grasp and Alex next to them. "It'll be ok," he told them, but even he could hear the lie. David looked at him with large scared eyes, and Gareth saw himself the night their dad had finally died.

Suddenly, the shouts and worried conversations turned all around him, into cries of panic and screams of horror. "What-"

It had happened. The monsters, the beasts that had taken ahold of the world had finally caught up with them. Gareth watched as one of them began to devour Todd, slowly and methodically. Another scream sounded from directly behind Mary as Jacob, one of the boys Gareth had taught in youth group, had fallen to the ground as a number of the creatures began to feed on him all at once.

Gareth felt his throat close, raising the shovel he had held in his hands and began to fight a nearby one off of a small girl who was crying and screaming, her mother already attacked in the moments prior.

It was hell.

The sound of pure terror filled the entire site, as those who hadn't been taken over fought to remain that way. All the while a shadow just inside the unlit church, paced. Alex had managed to grab the shotgun from a dead man's arms, as he and Gareth and a few other lucky ones with weapons attempted to hold them back from reaching any more of their people. A scream that sounded far too familiar for Gareth's liking stopped him in his tracks. His mother.

He turned to see her collapsed on the ground as David had been ripped from her arms and became the prey to the largest group of horrors yet. David's wide brown eyes were the last thing Gareth was able to see before he saw pure red, lashing out at every single thing near him, killing some of the beasts in his wake but all the while the cacophony around him became a living nightmare and Gareth could only feel his own soul being ripped out from inside him.

He felt a pressure as his back finally reached the church door, pushing a monster from off of him, that fell from the steps he stood upon. "I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME." He bellowed from outside the chapel. "AND YOU DID THIS," Gareth shouted into the night, the cries from the people around him a harmony to his hateful declaration. "YOU DID THIS."

Somewhere within the house of God, a man shriveled into himself, falling to the ground with his hands pressed over his ears, willing the sound of his own guilt right outside the doors to stop, stop, stop.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay I did it finally. Originally this was the first half of the first chapter but Microsoft Word told me this was 12 pages long already so...yeah. Sorry for all the breaks, there's a lot going on so that's only a temporary thaaang. I wrote over a pretty long span of IRL time so hopefully continuity is at least better than 5a. That's basically all I'm going for at this point. Better than 5a. You'll let me know if I do that, I hope? Or if I don't. Tell me I suck. All is welcome. Thank you my little coffee pots. Will update soon. <strong>


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